Pantherball 2008

Before I give this blog post over to Kevin Saiki - the creator and lover of Pantherball - I wanted to call attention to this photographed image of our very own, David Cutter. Before you let little children see this photo, I want you to be advised....this picture of David is like something out of the Xfiles. All we can do to explain it and describe it is to say that Cutter was giving 174% to this game, he was intense, he was screamin, he was going nuts. His team won the championship - and perhaps it was because Cutter morphed into the alien bounty hunter who's sole purpose for existence was to defeat the opposing team - check this out!!

Thanks Matt, that was great.

In considering this post, I have to ask myself: What is Pantherball? I mean, what is its essence? What does it represent? What does it do?

Pantherball does everything you can imagine. It gives you an outlet for raging frustrations with either all the papers you have had to write, all the times you've wanted to bash your friend, and all the times you went to the Nutella jar and found that once again, someone had taken the last scoops before you could get to them. It gives you exercise, which modern society tells us is going to make you live longer and better. It gives you insight into the parts of your friends you've never seen before (e.g. Cutter in the picture above). It teaches you patience as the ref (me) calls ridiculous calls. It teaches you that perhaps you are more violent than you thought you were (Sara punched Matt and received a "ten second on the couch" penalty), and thus, you begin a short night-long journey on a path of rapid self-discovery. But most of all, Patherball brings the people together.

I cannot and will not take complete credit for the idea of Pantherball. I learned about Pantherball from a friend of a friend while I was in University. His name was Josh and he was studying at Cal Poly SLO. That's about all I can say about origins.

But what I will say now is that Pantherball has evolved and will continue to evolve. It is no pointless activity, but it is the product of hours of long and arduous thinking about Community and how to bring everyone together. If we were all pieces of dirt lying on the floor, scattered about the room, Pantherball is the stiff whiskered push broom that suddenly pushes us all together into the dustpan.

Meet the teams. Then meet Brett, who wins the award for My Outrageous.
Top: Spanktops
Next: Panthermals
Next: Monkey Brains (Spring 2008 Champs)
Bottom:PawPurrs

Brett, hands down, wins best costume. Who has ever made a newspaper jock strap? Who has ever made a cardboard helmet, plastic bag tank-top, and wore what look to be business socks in Pantherball? No one has, that's why Brett is the best. Also, he was fierce. Also, he had to bite the cardboard helmet to keep it in place.